Stealing Hollywood - Character Introductions

I’ve
been breaking down HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE for the online
class I’m teaching and that movie is superb for this character
technique. Every major character has a fantastic character
introduction.

Character introductions are painstakingly
developed by screenwriters because the making of a movie (at least in
the past) almost always hinges on attachments – that is, attracting a
star big enough to “open” the movie – that is, bring in enough box
office on the opening weekend to earn back production costs.

When you have an actor like that, the studio will finance the movie.

(Okay,
now we could go into the fact that lately studios are less and less
willing to rely on stars to open movies and why, but this isn’t an
article on film financing, it’s an article on character).

And
since the character introduction is the first thing an actor will read
in the script, and may be the one thing that makes him or her decide to
keep reading, that character introduction may be your one shot at the
actor who will make your film or consign it to that grim warehouse (one
of many grim warehouses) where scripts with no attachments end up.

Actors
don’t always read the whole script. I am absolutely sure that all
your favorite actors do. And there are actors who convince great
directors to sign onto scripts that they love. There are actors who
love a script so much that they produce it themselves, without even
taking a role in it, to get it made.

Still, and I know
you may find this hard to believe - some actors only flip through the
script reading all their own lines, and make the determination of
whether or not they will play a part from that.

And so
no matter how brilliant the rest of your script is, an irresistible
character introduction may be your one shot at getting an actor who can
get your movie made.

But what does all this have to do with writing novels, you ask?

Well,
what I’m saying is that even as a novelist, it doesn’t hurt to think of
character in terms of casting. I know some of you design characters
(in novels as well as scripts) with actors in mind. I certainly do.
You may start writing a scene imagining a certain actor playing the role
of the character you have in mind, and use that actor’s voice. I do
this, not all the time, but fairly often. I can feel myself writing
for an actor, and imagining an actor saying the lines – but then ALWAYS,
at a certain point, the character just takes over. Everything I do
with character until that point is just treading water until the REAL
character shows up.

Then I forget all about actors and creating and designing - I’m really just following the character around taking dictation.

But
– until that point, imagining an actor, and writing for that actor, can
be a real help in attracting that mysterious being called character.

(I
would be worried about sounding completely psychotic at this point
except that I’m talking to a bunch of writers and I KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT
I’M TALKING ABOUT.)

So, if you’re willing to buy into
this metaphor I’m working on, that characters are much like actors, and
you have to design parts that will attract them to your story and
convince them to take on the role…

A really good way to do this is to create an irresistible CHARACTER INTRODUCTION.

Let’s take a look at some great ones.

- Rita Hayworth throwing back her hair in GILDA.

-
Dustin Hoffman on stage playing a tomato in TOOTSIE (and then the
equally classic introduction of “Dorothy”, struggling to walk down a
crowded NY street in high heels and power suit.)

Hoffman
as a tomato tells us everything about his character, both his desires
and problems: we see the passion he has for acting, the fact that he’s
not exactly living up to his potential, and how extremely intractable he
has, basically unemployable. It’s also a sly little joke that he’s
playing a “tomato” – a derogatory word for a woman.

This intro also tells us something about George
Bailey’s outer DESIRE line – he wants to do big things, build big
things, everything big. In fact, the story will be about how all the
LITTLE things George does in his life will add up to something more than
simply big, but truly enormous.

- Mary Poppins floating down from the sky holding on to that umbrella.

-
Katharine Hepburn in PHILADELPHIA STORY, throwing open the window
shutters on a gorgeous day and exclaiming, “Good going, God!”

- And okay, let’s just look at the mother lode of brilliant character introductions: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE.

-
Dumbledore: an elderly, medieval looking wizard regally walks down a
modern street, using some flashlight-like device to kind of vacuum the
lights from the streetlamps into this tool.

-
MacGonegal: A cat on a porch meows at Dumbledore, then the shadow of
the moving cat turns into the shadow of a witch in pointed hat, and
MacGonegal walks regally into frame.

Hagrid: first
appears as a glowing light in the sky, very conscious reference to
Glinda’s magical appearance in the glowing bubble in THE WIZARD OF OZ
(and Hagrid will be the fairy godmother to Harry). Then the Wizard of
Oz reference has a humorous twist – Hagrid descends not in a shimmering
bubble, but on a Harley.

But the introduction of Hagrid
is more than humorous – it tells us a lot about the character. First,
the debate that Dumbledore and MacGonegal have over whether Hagrid
should have been trusted with the baby tells us a lot about this
character we’re about to meet. And when we see Hagrid carrying the baby
this hulking giant is as tender as a mother.

Harry
Potter: we see him first as a baby in swaddling clothes, left on a
doorstep (like every fairy tale changeling and also Moses in the
bulrushes, the child who grows up to be the leader of his people), while
the witch and the wizard talk about how important he’s going to be -
then the scar on the baby’s forehead is match cut to the scar on 11-year
old Harry’s forehead to pass time and introduce Harry again.

Again,
note that this introduction of Harry tells us a lot about this
character – in pure exposition and also by using the visual, archetypal
references to Moses – and, let’s face it, the baby Jesus with the three
kings (wizards and witch).

Olivander, the wand master: John Hurt slides into frame on a ladder, slyly glowing as only John Hurt can glow.

Nearly Headless Nick: pops his head right through the dinner table.

Of
course, having actors like all of the above has more than a little to
do with the power of those introductions – obviously we’re talking about
screen royalty here.

But those introductions were also specifically designed to be worthy of those stars.

So
add character introductions to your list of things to watch for when
you look at movies and read books. Note the great ones. The more you
become aware of how other storytellers handle this, the better you will
be at writing them yourself, for your own characters.

You know the question by now. What are YOUR favorite examples of character introductions?

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